Ethical Blogging [Re-Mix]

A blog about perfume jiggles the figures and hits it big on Technorati... story below!

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Tags: Mariuca, blogging, Social Feedback, A-list, A-lister, Technorati

Blogging is not a contest - but why do I always feel like somebody is keeping score. - Blogger Pilar

Because there are certain people who are not really blogging: they think they're in a 'popularity contest.' I think it started with MySpace. The race to add "friends" and more "friends" has spread to bloggers who crave links, hits and "recognition." They think that by chalking up hits they're becoming popular. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

[Foreword] Bobby, Marzie, fellow-bloggers all over the planet: "While it is troublesome to have one's ideas critiqued...sometimes mercilessly...there is very little we can do about it once we've launched them into the ether. This is the understood risk of the Internet." I want you to experience this post as critique, with a dash of criticism.

Technorati is a wonderful tool and I am one of the first bloggers who signed on when the service initially became available. But Technorati has had it's fair share of imperfections: times when tagged posts were overlooked, times when the world's most popular blog (Xu Jinglei's) wasn't counted by Technorati even though the Chinese blogger was averaging 300,000 hits PER DAY (and that went on for months). Then there were those who manipulated Technorati by topic, like when Tammy NYP and her sex tape were making the rounds on the Net. Then there was the time T'rati added MySpace "blogs" in their count --- I still say most of them are not really blogs--- and now people are using T'rati's "Favoutites" count to manipulate the stats!

I came across Marzie after joining MyBlogLog. She's a nice girl, who managed to blowout Technorati. She's made plenty of cyber-friends, myself included. She's racked up hits and links and been favourited... but, for what? Does anyone really care about what she writes? She's made friends, and that's good. She's highly ranked in Technorati, bit so-whattie? July 10-16 there wasn't a single new post on her blog: a recent post is all about Technorati: In My Technorati Train Ride she offers a software download "Technorati Cheat." What is the point? Is she a blogger or a link-hog? I have no quarrel with Marzie but I do have a quarrel with a blog devoid of what a blog should contain. Marzie, I luv ya but you should be on MySpace, not blogspot! Marzie's biggest cheerleader is another blogger, Bobby Revell:

Before I get into it, My friend Marzie is now a Technorati 10k blogger!
How did she get there? With a little help and a heaping load of friendliness!

Congratulations Marzie! Going from 7,000 on June 10th to 10,000 today. One month of viral linking, schmoozing and being herself got her where others cannot. I am so Happy for her The nicest person on the Internet.

MY QUESTION: Marzie,now that you're "there," what are you going to do, what CAN you do, to KEEP READERS INTERESTED- KEEP 'EM COMING BACK??? "...if you talk to many of today’s bloggers, they’ll complain that the game seems fixed. They’ve targeted one of the more lucrative niches: gossip or politics or gadgets (or sex, of course) yet they cannot reach anywhere close to the size of the existing big blogs. It’s as if there were an A-list of a few extremely lucky, well-trafficked blogs then hordes of people stuck on the B-list or C-list, also-rans who can’t figure out why their audiences stay so comparatively puny no matter how hard they work..." Lucky you, you also-ran! You can read the entire New York Magazine article [just click HERE!]

So, Marzie's blog has skyrocketed. Big Hat Tip to Bobby Revell. But who is Bobby Revell? He appeared on my radar with something that looked like it would become a marvelous blog: He may delete it (or certain posts) once he sees I've linked to it here. Although he has acknowledged my original "Ethical Blogging" post, he's taken care NOT to link to it! The services that scientifically measure the popularity of blogs and blogposts has this writer's blog listed, and let me tell ya, I'm waaaay down on the chart. Revell and Mariuca don't show up. almost like they don't exist!

Perhaps the real Bobby Revell can be found in "Where's the cash in blogging?" where he expresses anger at Google and says he expects to be PAID for blogging!

"My Grandmother taught me about that basic lesson when I was a child. They are taking severe advantage of our tender hearted blog-love. I feel dirty, like I have been spat on by a city leader. These massive cash machines need to pay us. How can these rich, disgusting misers live with themselves?"

Whoa, Bobby!!! Remember, Bobby preaches that all Bloggers are "brothers and sisters." Even though the original version of this post slighted Marzie a bit for stooping to cheat Technorati and urging others to follow suit, she remains in my blogroll... I profiled her blog in a recent post (written after the original "Ethical Blogging" post). I'm convinced more than ever that Marzie should plant herself firmly on MySpace, where her mentor Revell is already established. A friend of mine, looking over my shoulder as I type this, says it's obvious to her that Bobby and Marzie are engaged in an online courtship. Ya think? I had her take a look at Revell's "Woman: God's Masterpiece" blog. She says she finds it "disturbing." I for one, do not: I too have posted in the past about hot blogger babe types. It's not a crime! If you Google Bobby Revell, you'll find he has many talents to his credit, he's a writer, a filmmaker... but he's got this "pay me for blogging" thing going on right now... I've seen bloggers claw their way up to making oodles of cash, but the ones who are still around know better than to use techniques and softwares clearly targeting manipulation of ranking and reporting services.

Let's get back to Marzie, who is now a "writer" on the "Woman God" blog: (wonder what God would say about cheating Technorati) Remember, it's a blog, not a popularity contest. For now, that Technorati download on Mariuca will probably keep Marzie's traffic coming. (Until T'rati gets wise and takes measures to prevent this kind of spamming) ... But here's the thing: (and this is what us B-list and C-list bloggers see all the time) after averaging out, Marzie's daily traffic report may read something like "25 returning visitors; 500 new visitors." The trick is to entice readers to come back to your blog regularly: DAILY if possible. While it's great to have 600 hits a day, it's meaningless when 580 are "new" everyday, looking for software or attracted to a particular topic. Wham,bam, thank-you ma'am! They'll never be back. Never get to know you. I was visiting Marzie almost every day, from July 10 through 16, leaving messages in her tagboard "Marzie, howzabout posting something new?"

Revell was unhappy with that statement. I stand by it. The only bloggers I know who have been able to continue to attract hits during LONG absences are Xiaxue and The Albany Eye!

My old Capital Region People blog still gets 250 hits a day, and I haven't posted anything meaningful on it in over a year! I'm not linking to it because I don't WANT more hits on it. Out of over 1,000 posts I wrote there are but a handful whose subject matter continues to attract new readers everyday! They're all new, none ever come back... It's crazy!

I had a similar experience with another blog... I finally had to go in and delete the entire blog, as I couldn't believe that the beat up old blog continued attracting hundreds of readers a month!


The chart at left represents a website that is NOT a true blog!
Blogger Paxton posted about a comment made on another blog being turned into a post by someone else. In answer to Paxton's Ethical Blogging , Scio, Scio commented: Firstly we have to remember that the Internet is a public space. Any thoughts or ideas we put onto it which are not exclusively copyrighted are subject to commentary. While it is troublesome to have one's ideas critiqued...sometimes mercilessly...there is very little we can do about it once we've launched them into the ether. This is the understood risk of the Internet.

A strong, informative post Ethical Blogging 101 tackles everything REAL bloggers should be concerned about! Here's a batch more:

Ethical blogging and the problem of anonymous bloggers

Blogsvertise and ethical blogging

Healthcare Bloggers Code of Ethics

The Ethical Blogging "Buzz"

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